WEEI now broadcasting on WMKK 93.7 HD3

[Eli Polonsky]

On Tuesday night I noticed a 93.7 HD3 on the air for the first time, with a dead carrier.

I didn't check it again for a couple of days, but as of this morning, 93.7 HD3 is now //WEEI.

[DToTheJ]

So when Entercom decides to bring WEEI to FM, Mike will be demoted to HD2. 

(Of course, as long as Mike makes money, he ain't going anywhere...)

[rapking]

WEEI on 93.7 ? I hope so !!!!! Anything to get AWFUL MIKE-FM OFF THE AIR !!!! How about a spanish music station on 93.7 ? Yeah right ! That make too much sence for a Lawrence station.

[raccoonradio]

WMKK is lic. to Lawrence but they image it as a Boston station. They have to say Lawrence in the legal ID
but the "Mike FM voice" will say "WMKK (or Mike 93.7)...Boston" OTHERwise. If you want Spanish material
in Lawrence, it IS on FM...92.1...it comes in down in N. Reading I notice. And POWER 800.

http://www.power800am.com/
"Boston's only Hispanic radio station" (note...BOSTON, not Lawrence; ...only one?)
When you do a Yahoo search for them, that pops up but when you get to the page it
eliminates the word "only" from the top of page.

Personally I don't mind Mike and go to it once in awhile, though "we play everything" is a reach. They may play some oh-wow oldies or stuff like Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, etc.; maybe even one Garth Brooks song. But
there is so much stuff they don't touch, which is why other stations exist. But I would like to see WEEI
on 93.7--or at least the Red Sox. As I've said more than enough times, it would come in great at my
workplace, and I work nights. I wouldn't have to put one radio nr edge of building and use a mini FM
transmitter. or walk around with my arm extended as high as possible to MAYBE get the game on WBOQ
104.9. Yeah, it comes in when you're in parking lot or the breakroom but not the workroom floor.

Is it too much to ask for them to, say, keep the Mike but then break to simulcast Red Sox games? On
static free FM? There are some FM Sox affiliates but we need one in BOSTON.

Now if WEEI is indeed on an HD signal--on a mono, HD3--it might convince me to get that HD portable
that Eli showed to me. IF they carry the games on it. I'm not sure they can...? Is there some kind of
MLB rule against carrying it on an HD signal?

[Eli Polonsky]

Now if WEEI is indeed on an HD signal--on a mono, HD3--it might convince me to get that HD portable
that Eli showed to me. IF they carry the games on it. I'm not sure they can...? Is there some kind of
MLB rule against carrying it on an HD signal?

I don't know of any such rule. I'm guessing 93.7 HD3 will probably just rebroadcast WEEI full-time, including any games.

I dropped into the Best Buy in Cambridge yesterday, and saw the Insignia HD FM portable is on sale for $40 ($10 off the regular price) right now. I'd guess it's probably on sale in their other stores as well, though I don't know for how long.

You can also play it through any other radio by plugging into the headphone jack, just like an iPod, etc...

[raccoonradio]

Good news: WEEI confirms Sox and Celts games will be on WMKK-HD 3(I know there are MLB rules about Net
streamcasting--one person on WEEI Sports Netw's Facebook group was wondering why he was hearing
ESPN instead of The Big Show on the WEEI stream. I mentioned the Sox had a pre-season game on, so...)
And I didn't know if that also meant they couldn't put it on HD-3...but...

And I did buy the HD unit at Best Buy (Danvers) just now. Indeed $40 (had gone to their site yesterday and saw that...)
They had a whole bunch of them where AM-FM Walkmen and port CD players are sold (so it wasn't like I had to find a clerk and get a case opened up). Took home, charged a bit, tried--and found I could get WKLB's
classic country, WEEI via WMKK, WBZ via Sports Hub 98.5 etc. So far so good; we'll see how it comes in at work. But WMKK's signal is the clearest FM signal we can get at work (WCRB comes in well too). Given
the location of the towers--in Peabody and Andover, respectively--no surprise.

So the Sox are indeed on FM in Boston, provided you have an HD radio. Again, would they consider
simulcasting on 93.7's analog signal, just the games? I know, it veers from the Everything format and
games can last a while...and I also know that depending on where you are you can find Sox on
104.9 Gloucester, 103.7 Westerly, etc. But I mean a signal to cover the Boston area in static free FM

[Eli Polonsky]

Took home, charged a bit, tried--and found I could get WKLB's classic country, WEEI via WMKK, WBZ via Sports Hub 98.5 etc. So far so good; we'll see how it comes in at work. But WMKK's signal is the clearest FM signal we can get at work (WCRB comes in well too). Given the location of the towers--in Peabody and Andover, respectively--no surprise.

It sounds like you're getting HD from the FM's on the 128 tower in Newton as well as the two HD stations north of Boston.

If you can find a position/placement where you can get HD from the Pru stations up there, you could also enjoy all-blues (and blues-rock) "Radio Mojo" on 100.7 HD2. As a blues fan/DJ, I'd think you'd want to check that out. Then there's my favorite, "FreeForm 'BCN" on 100.7 HD3.

I seem to lose HD on the Pru stations on the Insignia heading up Route 93 before reaching Route 128/95 though, but that's with the radio inside the car, not the best reception situation.

[raccoonradio]

yeah if I didn't mention it, Radio Mojo is coming in here in Beverly (have heard a bit of it via WZLX site, before)

I may have said (on Boston Radio Blog) that free form WBCN is on WBZ-FM but wasn't sure...will correct it

[Eli Polonsky]

yeah if I didn't mention it, Radio Mojo is coming in here in Beverly (have heard a bit of it via WZLX site, before)

I may have said (on Boston Radio Blog) that free form WBCN is on WBZ-FM but wasn't sure...will correct it

The WBCN on WBZ-FM 98.5 HD2 is "The Rock of Boston", a continuation of the recent WBCN format as it was on 104.1 just before it went off the air last year (new/recent "alternative" hard rock, some hard rock classics, etc...)

"Free Form 'BCN", programmed by the first WBCN rock program director Sam Kopper, is on 100.7 HD3.

[aaronread]

This is a move I've thought is LONG overdue and I'm glad to see it happen.  It's a win-win for everyone involved.

First, I should mention that the FCC has recently authorized FM stations to increase their HD injection levels from -20dB to -14dB unilaterally.  Some stations will be allowed, via STA, to increase to -10dB...although I don't think 93.7 will qualify (Boston's got a lot of short-spaced allocations).   Still, even just a +6dB increase makes a major difference in coverage for HD carriers.  The in-car listening gets stable out to (roughly speaking) the 50dB contour (instead of just the 60) and in-house listening gets a lot better, too.   "Problem areas" like concrete canyons of cities and inside office buildings usually need the full +10dB of extra injection, but since most games are during the evening...and thus most listeners are in-car and at-home...if/when WMKK increases HD injection, you'll see the HD3 be a very nice complement to the WEEI-AM signal.

Second, keeping the first point in mind, WMKK will do a nice job providing Red Sox coverage to the Metrowest area that can't really get WEEI-AM after dark.  Especially for in-car driving down the Pike.  And, of course, all the people in WMKK's coverage area that would like to listen to the Sox but would prefer to listen to something that, well, doesn't sound like AM radio.   A properly pre-processed 24kbps HD stream can (and should) sound about as good as a solid FM signal...admittedly it's tougher with news/talk/sports than with music, but it can be done.

Third, the real benefit here is that the Boston area has, for the first time¹, a significant reason to go out and buy an HD Radio.  It's not quite an "omigawdigottahaveit" reason, but it's a very easy sales pitch that your average listener can understand.   I'm under no illusions that this'll suddenly drive mass adoption of HD Radio by consumers, but at least now you can't say that there's no content on HD-n multicast channels that the masses will want.

Of course, one DOWNside is that HD multicast channels have an encoding/decoding delay of about 90 seconds...so the WMKK-HD3 feed is going to be significantly "behind the action".   That may not really matter too much for most listeners, though.

¹ The only other example that I can think of was WGBH running all-classical on HD2, but that was a pretty niche audience.  The Red Sox have a much greater mass appeal.